Dora Bryan Movies

After attending a Marilyn Manson concert, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) terrorize Saffy (Julia Sawalha) with their drugged-up behavior. Gran (June Whitfield) is also on hand to add to the chaos, along with fellow septuagenarians Dolly (Dora Bryan) and Brice (Tim Wylton). When Saffy hires a gardener to redo the back yard, he turns out to be Jago (Crispin Bonham-Carter), younger brother of one of Patsy's one-time drug buddies and scion of a very wealthy family. When Patsy goads Eddy into throwing herself at Jago (and his fortune), he seems to reciprocate. The two arrange a dinner date, much to Saffy's consternation. When they return from supper and things start to get physical, Patsy's presence under the living-room couch complicates things. Eddy and Jago smoke some grass and get into bed, but Eddy's only memory of what follows is a vague druidic fantasy. The romance seems to be a success, but it turns out the hunky outdoorsman's lifestyle might not be as rich or glamorous as Pats and Eddy suspected. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on September 7, 2001, Absolutely Fabulous: Fish Farm marked series four, episode two of this popular Britcom. Bonham-Carter's cousin, Helena Bonham-Carter, previously appeared in Absolutely Fabulous: Hospital. Although the episode features a running joke about Roger Daltrey, the British rocker does not appear. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Life continues apace for Edina (Jennifer Saunders), Patsy (Joanna Lumley), and Saffron (Julia Sawalha). Eddy has adopted a dolphin as both house pet and PR client; Pats has moved out of Odd Bins to make room for a new liquor aisle; and Saffy has finally found a boyfriend -- the wealthy, condescending Paolo Carlo (Tom Hollander). Mother (June Whitfield), meanwhile, has taken up with a cadre of in-your-face, elderly "snowbirds," while Bubble (Jane Horrocks) is out of the picture, busy with her new job at French Vogue. Pats and Eddy decide to vacation in Val d'sere, which, as with their earlier vacations in Absolutely Fabulous: France and Absolutely Fabulous: Morocco, turns out to be less welcoming than they'd hoped. While Pats takes up with a hunky ski instructor, Eddy has a near-death experience out on the slopes in which God appears to her in the form of Marianne Faithfull. Convinced she has been spared for some larger purpose, Eddy returns home to find that her mother's new friends have taken up residence in their camper van in the front drive. A more pressing concern arrives in the form of Saffy's engagement to Paolo; a meeting between the Monsoon clan and the mega-rich Carlo family goes poorly at first, but when Patsy realizes that Paolo's mother, Kalishia (Carmen Du Sautoy), is actually a former B-movie bimbo, the fearful society matron finds herself de-fanged. Soon life is a blur of wedding preparations, from fittings at Christian Lacroix's designer boutique to involuntary depilatory sessions forced on the hapless bride-to-be. The action climaxes at the ceremony itself, where the guests include a who's who of previous "AbFab" guest stars. Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout was originally broadcast as a two-part TV movie on BBC 1 in 1996, a year after the end of the third "AbFab" series. It would be the last installment until series four began in 2001. Former Shakespear's Sister member Marcella Detroit appears as God's angelic sidekick; the singer also contributed several songs to the soundtrack, including a new rendition of the show's unmistakable theme music, "This Wheel's on Fire." Nickey Clarke, Suzy Menkes, Bruce Oldfield, Christopher Biggins, and Lacroix appear as themselves. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Three purloined video tapes create all sorts of problems for the two teens who stole them in this horror trilogy that was originally made for television. The tapes they swiped, so they could have movie night with their girl friends, are "Killer Punch," featuring a cruel puppeteer using his craft to torment his family; "Scream House," about a young couple living in a house haunted by the spectre of a deranged killer; and "Garden of Blood," a chronicle of two hapless gardeners assigned to tend a haunted yard. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Jamie Hopkins (Cliff Richard) is a wayward young man who lives with his mother and steals drugs from the doctor's office where she works. His similarly unscrupulous girlfriend Carol (Ann Holloway) lives gleefully in her similarly amoral life until she is converted to Christianity when she attends a traveling religious crusade led by evangelist Billy Graham (himself). Carol's life is changed as a result of her conversion, and she attempts to show her wayward boyfriend the light. Jamie is eventually prepared to change his lowdown ways in this predictable, overly simple story of spiritual redemption and religious piety. Pop singer Richard delivers three songs as well as starring as the principle character in the film. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Horace Quilby (Michael Bentine) is a sandwich-board advertising man who gets a tour of London and sees some of the city's most offbeat and outrageous characters in this situation comedy. British blonde bombshell (Diana Dors) co-stars. Watch for Michael Chaplin (son of Charlie) as a beatnik artist. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Director Tony Richardson adapted the screenplay of A Taste of Honey from the "kitchen sink" stage play by Shelagh Delaney. Rita Tushingham plays a working-class British teenager, living with her drink-sodden, libertine mother Dora Bryan. Denied affection by her selfish mother, Tushingham is pushed further in the background when Bryan impulsively marries her latest boyfriend Robert Stephens. The girl takes a job at a shoe store, then moves in with her kindly homosexual employer Murray Melvin. The two lost souls live in harmony until Tushingham becomes pregnant after a casual affair with black sailor Paul Danquah. Melvin comes to the rescue by offering to look after the baby. This relatively blissful state of affairs is short-lived; before long, Tushingham's hateful mother, having been kicked out by Stephens, descends upon her daughter and her "family," with all her debilitating emotional baggage intact. A poignant denouement caps this riveting slice-of-life drama. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Set in an anti-aircraft station along the British coast, this light comedy features Donald Sinden as Lt. Gordon Brown and Barbara Murray as his wife, Private Betty Brown. When a group of female recruits are posted to the base, the handsome lieutenant attracts their attention, especially the attention of blonde charmer Private Marge White (Carole Lesley). Then Lt. Brown's wife Betty gets posted to the base as well, and that causes no end of trouble. Regulations require that they cannot be working out of the same place, and so they hide their relationship. Meanwhile, the enamored Marge does not have a clue and neither does Major Pym (Naunton Wayne). The good Major then gives the flummoxed lieutenant leave to go visit his wife, and matters deteriorate even more. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Long, long, after her days of filmic glory in the 1930s and 1940s, skating star Sonja Henie made her last movie appearance in the British Hello, London. Henie plays herself, a rich-as-Croesus ice-show celebrity making a tour of Europe. Michael Wilding and Eunice Gayson contrive to keep Sonja in London long enough so that she'll feel obliged to perform at a charity function. Also appearing under their own names are such British showbiz luminaries as Ronnie Graham, Stanley Holloway and Dennis Price; in addition, Oliver Reed shows up in a surly bit part. In the spirit of Auld Lang Syne, Hello London was released in the US by Ms. Henie's longtime home studio, 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this British comedy, a young man resorts to spying, extortion and just plain begging after he learns that he is to be replaced as headwaiter by a young woman. The story is based on a popular play. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Alistair Sim plays a mild, innocuous little watchmaker who spends his off-hours as a professional assassin. His present target is windbag cabinet member Raymond Huntley. After various misfire attempts, Sim plants a bomb in a small radio and waits for the tube to warm up--but the authorities by now are on to him. The Green Man has some excellent setpieces, notably a droll snatch of black humor involving a body stuffed in a piano. The film's only debit is that, in the play upon which it is based, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat's Meet the Body, Sim's character is secondary, almost peripheral. By reshaping the film into a star vehicle, much of the play's intimate (albeit ghoulish) charm is dissipated. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jose Ferrer was both star and director of the British WW2 drama Cockleshell Heroes. Ferrer is cast as Major Stringer, the officer in charge of a delicate naval operation. Stringer and seven volunteers are expected to paddle four canoes into Nazi-held waters, plant limpet mines on enemy boats, and return safely to their own lines. Of the eight courageous saboteurs, only two survive. The story is abundant with suspense, humor and irony, buoyed by a top-rank supporting cast, including Trevor Howard, Victor Maddern and Anthony Newley (Christopher Lee shows up briefly as a German sub commander). Howard delivers the best performance as a subtly resentful officer who was passed up for promotion in order to work with Major Stringer. Cockleshell Heroes was released in the US by Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi